Zeddy Will has shaken up the Hip-Hop scene in a most hilarious way. The emerging rap artist made a game-changing appearance on the show “On The Radar,” where his freestyles went viral. His freestyle to the tune “Cha Cha,” originally by the renowned DJ Casper (RIP), has been the standout of the rhymes he dropped. On YouTube, a platform notorious for its difficult algorithm, Zeddy has amassed millions of views. Even infamous streamer Kai Cenat recognizes this Queensbridge native’s talent. AllHipHop linked up with the hilariously talented rapper and comedian for an interview at Won World Studios. Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur and Zeddy have a jolly ol’ time. A lot of fun here to kick off 2024!
AllHipHop: So first of all, before we even get into all that, tell people a little bit about yourself and where you are right now.
Zeddy Will: Oh yeah. Zeddy Will. So basically I started from doing TikTok. I was born in Queensbridge, Queensbridge, New York. I’m from New York. All of this really started from me being a TikTok influencer doing funny videos. My style of videos was comedy, so I was a comedian at the time, still am. And when I got into the rapping joints, it was just throwing out little freestyles. I would throw out freestyles for me and my friend Michael in the car and they was eating it up.
They was like, yo, how is he able to sound like that? How is he able to mix comedy with the rap joint? So I kept doing it. Then my manager, Sean pre, we were like, yo, bro, I think you need to probably take a stab at rapping. So I’m like, okay. And they started to compare me to Will Smith and that was a big thing. I grew up loving Will Smith, fresh Prince of Ballet, all that type of vibe. So that’s really where it started. And now we are doing the rap stuff and I just did this big old freestyle on the radar and it’s called Chacha and that’s what’s going on now. Yeah,
AllHipHop: So you also mentioned Will Smith, which I think is interesting. For me, that was really what first came to mind when I saw the visuals associated with the music and what you were doing. So where are you heading? Is it going to be music or are you going to add Will was only really rapping for a short period, right?
Zeddy Will: He dropped a couple songs, “Parents Ain’t Nothing but Trouble.” He dropped all that little stuff in there.
AllHipHop: Wait a minute, “girls of the world ain’t nothing but trouble.
Zeddy Will: “Girls Ain’t Nothing but Trouble.” Nah, I feel like I have no limits. I want to end up acting. That’s my main thing. I want to end up being an actor. So if it happens tomorrow or happens four years from now, I’m not mad. But the music and the comedy is just the startup, the build-up. So the music is, if that’s the thing that God wants me to be putting out to the world and throwing my comedy out through that and showing I got good lyrics and all that type of stuff, then that’s what it’s for. Now. I don’t have no problem with that.
AllHipHop: You mentioned Queensbridge. So growing up or at least coming of age, Queensbridge was the blocks you might not make it through deep what you going to do whenmy whole crew is blazing at you” (quoting Mobb Deep).
Zeddy Will: Me growing up, my mom. So I was always into sports, so I really wasn’t in the violent part of it. Being in the gangs and all that type of stuff, whatever was going on, I wasn’t a part of that. It was cool, regular, being in the playground, being with my friends. I got a bunch of friends that I met when I was younger and I still know ’em now. And every time I go back to my hood, they always support. My mother kept me out of it or just the sports. I did swimming. I ran track, I played lacrosse, I played basketball. I played soccer. That was her way. And my mom, she was a dance teacher for this big community center in Queensbridge. So everybody knew my mom. So it was like you see his mom, you going to see him. So it is all connected. But I was a good boy, good boy. It was a good boy and a wild place really.
AllHipHop: Yeah. From a Hip-Hop point of view, did you know the legacy of Queensbridge?
Zeddy Will: No, I didn’t. Growing up, I didn’t know nothing. I’m just finding out about this really this year I didn’t know nothing. I didn’t know about MC Shan. I didn’t know about Mobb Deep. I just know the songs, but I ain’t know Nas.
AllHipHop: Back to you. You got “Cha Cha,” you do a bit of a mixing of old and new. Talk about the philosophy and the thinking behind that.
Zeddy Will: Yeah, so I think this past year or two, I’ve just been listening to a lot of old school music and I think this year really with the 50th anniversary, that type of vibe and how big of a deal that was. Since I’m doing music, I want to make sure I know everything about it while I’m getting into it. So I said on the interview, I didn’t know who Rakim was, Rakim was a big name. I went to the BET Awards was and Rakim had this big old thing. I’m like, “Why if I’m doing music, why don’t I know how important he was to Hip-Hop?” So I listen to a lot of old school music and I love our music that we got now, and I just mix it up.
AllHipHop: So is Soulja Boy old school now?
Zeddy Will: Soulja Boy, old school? Yeah, all of that. We not doing that no more. But he’s still a legend though, Soulja Boy. He just starts everything. So he a little old to me though.
AllHipHop: That’s so funny. Now who did you grow up looking up to?
Zeddy Will: Mine are two people. I would say, well, two people on the entertainment side and then music is just a different thing. Well, my music side, Eminem, I was a big Eminem fan all my life. My mother was telling me when I was younger, I used to listen to a bunch of Eminem when I was four or five years old and she had to tell me, stop. And then on the entertainment side, Martin Lawrence and Will Smith, those are my two my goats of just entertainment in general. They just are fun. They appeal to the people. I feel like they just understand comedy and acting and all of that.
AllHipHop: Fun. Speaking of dancing, you do a lot of that?
Zeddy Will: My mother was a dance teacher. I think that’s really what it was. And she always had me in shows with her dancing. So I just took that along and I’m just dancing all silly and goofy when I just dance on TikTok, it is getting millions of views, hundreds of thousands. So the people love it. So if I love it and they love it, why not keep doing it?
AllHipHop: How are the ladies treating you now?
Zeddy Will: Now? I’m up right now. So they love me. I ain’t going to lie. The girls love me. It’s just been speaking to a lot of different women from out of the country. I never talked to girls from out of the country like, whoa, you from London? I’ve never been to London. They love my energy.
AllHipHop: I’ll just say, don’t get Jonathan Major’d out here. Alright, so tell me a little bit about your creative process. And I preface this with the fact that I noticed most rappers no longer write lyrics. They just kind of go in there and just whatever’s first to mind.
Zeddy Will: I’m on my pen game. That’s one thing Shawn Prez always taught me, dude, you got to write because a lot of times you can go in the studio and just freestyle and you might make a hit. A lot of hits have been made. People just freestyle in the studio. But when you want it to mean something and you want it to come from the heart, you got to really write that. So that’s “Cha Cha.” I wrote that. I got to write.
AllHipHop: Are you able to stay focused? I mean with social media, with TikTok, I mean all these notifications, the phone, everything. How do you stay focused is really the question.
Zeddy Will: I stay home. Yeah. I don’t go outside really. I don’t want nothing happening to me. You feel me? I like to stay as regular as possible. So I like going to clubs, I like going to parties. I like going to the store. I don’t feel the need to be a lot of people on my team get at me a lot. I like going to the store without security. I don’t like doing all extra stuff, but I just stay in the house. That’s the best thing to stay in the house, make music, record videos, and just chill. That’s really what, it’s for me, that’s my plan.
AllHipHop: Have your friends treated you differently if they started to act funny?
Zeddy Will: Nah, not friends, but people that I went to high school with for sure. I went to prep school all the way out in Virginia for four years. So a lot of those people are hitting me up that never spoke to me, never gave me the time of the day, that type of stuff. But other than that…no. I don’t got a lot of friends. I like to keep it family.
AllHipHop: You gonna join the Illuminati?
Zeddy Will: No, I’m cool. Cool off all that. I’m cool off all that. I’m good. We’re going to stay right here and keep it pushing.
For more on Zeddy Will, follow him on Instagram.